Thread: NE Illegal Immigrant Pregnant Women Not Eligible Medicaid

Pregnant women who are illegal immigrants no longer eligible for Medicaid
StoryDiscussionBy NANCY HICKS / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, January 20, 2010 6:45 pm | ( 8 ) Comments

..Around 1,000 pregnant women who are illegal immigrants will no longer receive prenatal services through the federal-state Medicaid program, beginning in early spring, according to Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services leaders.

The prenatal care issue creates a conflict between two state goals:

• On the immigration front, senators have wanted to make certain that illegal immigrants do not get any public benefits, passing strong anti-immigration legislation (LB403) last year.
• Because of the strong pro-life sentiment, Nebraska also has provided Medicaid coverage for all pregnant women, regardless of their immigration status. The assumption is that the prenatal coverage also is for the benefit of the unborn child, who will be a U.S. citizen once born.
However, federal officials have told state leaders that federal law prohibits Medicaid coverage for people who are not documented except for emergency care. That means no prenatal care for pregnant moms.

Unlike Nebraska, which provides coverage for the unborn, the federal government has no similar concept.

"Unborn child is not an accepted Medicaid eligibility group," said Vivianne Chaumont, director of the Division of Medicaid and Long-Term Care, in a letter to state senators.

"The only Medicaid coverage that is available for an undocumented alien pregnant woman is the cost of delivery and the cost of treating complications of pregnancy considered to be emergencies," she wrote.

The federal government pays for about 60 percent of the costs of the Medicaid coverage and state taxes pay the rest.

If senators want to provide prenatal care for pregnant mothers who are illegal residents, the Legislature will have to create a separate non-Medicaid program in state statute, according to the letter from Chaumont.

The state is reviewing the 6,000 pregnant women receiving Medicaid-funded prenatal care, according to Kerry Winterer, CEO of the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. All women who are not legally in the country will lose their benefits, likely on March 1, he said.

The state estimates that somewhere around 1,000 women now receiving prenatal care are undocumented and will lose Medicaid prenatal coverage. That coverage costs around $850 to $950 per woman, according to Chaumont.

Winterer said the letter was intended to bring the issue to the attention of senators, letting them know there must be a legislative solution if they want to continue the program.

Several senators said they had only recently received the letter and had not had time to consider a solution. "It is still just too new and everyone has had too much going on to sit down and talk about this issue," said Sen. Tim Gay, chairman of the Legislature's Health and Human Services Committee.

"It caught everyone off guard," he said.

Reach Nancy Hicks at 473-7250 or nhicks@journalstar.com.

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GOOD! Prenatal care is not an emergency. Now let's start work on the birthright issue, children of illegal alien parents should not and must not be given automatic US citizenship!!!!

Sounds like Ben Nelson's critical deciding vote for healthcare is making Nebraskans look seriously at their Medicaid program, since the rest of states will have to pay for it into eternity.

If illegal pregnant women want the best for their unborn children then they should go back to where they came from. It is not the responsibility of our government or our taxpayers.

You are so right miguelina
We must stop automatic citizenship for children born to people who are in this country illegally. Giving them automatic Citizenship cost's millions upon millions to provide welfare, food stamps and any other perks they get. Although the welfare is meant for the child, the way it stands now, the illegal parents greatly benifit from it. It must be stopped or illegals will continue to come. It seems to me they come to have anchor babies, to take jobs illegally and the welfare benifits that are bestowed upon them by our government.

GOOD!!

NEVER have illegal alien women been eligible for pre or post natal care and services on the backs of the taxpayer......not in Nebraska or any other state.

ETMALA spells it out....clearly.

Outside of emergencies....defined as any condition which poses an imminenet danger/threat to life, limb, or organ.....these woman are entitled to NOTHING but a no frills delivery, conceivably right there in an ER cubicle, and once they and the kid are stable, out the door they go. Done. Finished.

Even those presenting in labor.....if delivery is not imminent.....can be transfered to the so called "welfare wards" ( county hospitals charged with taking indigent patients) where they get their "in and out" deliveries.

All of the free pre and post natal, the deliveries and royal treatment in the nice birthing suites, etc. that everyone is told they are "entitled", or have some "right" to is nothing more than what their advocates have been able to wring out of clinics and hospitals by quoting THEIR version of the law and threatening lititgation.

It speaks volumes that states are now cracking down in the face of fiscal crisis......as they do so, it negates claims by the pro-amnesty crowd that illegal aliens are more beneficial to our economy than a detriment.

It's going to make amnesty a much more difficult sell and really, it wouldn't surprise me if that's not alot of what we see going on right now.....states preparing their arguments against amnesty.

Why end there, stop giving their babies State citizenship also.

Added to Homepage:
http://www.alipac.us/article-4854--0-0.html

Sit and talk??? We Americans have had enough sitting and talking . Every minute that passes we are getting that much closer to winning this war, and it is a war against hard working Americans, we want our schools, hospitals, roads, money, jobs we want it all back . The crooks that gave it away are slowly but surly being removed from office. If it were up to most Americans the folks responsible for letting 10 million or more illegal immigrants invade our country would be publicly strung up to teach a lesson to all the other criminals in our government.

No care,just walking papers to the border.

"The only Medicaid coverage that is available for an undocumented alien pregnant woman is the cost of delivery and the cost of treating complications of pregnancy considered to be emergencies," she wrote.

If you're bringing a child into this world, then perhaps you should pay for the delivery / associated costs as well! Why are tax payers picking that up!

If you cannot pay for the delivery costs, how are you going to afford clothing, housing, food costs etc! Oh that's right, the American tax payer is paying for that as well!

Disgusting!